Note: I will be addressing the Chael Sonnen situation tomorrow. Since I’ve already penned a piece on the topic for Heavy.com, I need to back away from it for the rest of the day or else I won’t be able to accomplish the numerous things on my to-do list for today. The news saddens me more than anything, but we’ll talk about it tomorrow. Additionally, how fitting does yesterday’s “we don’t need the influence of pro wrestling” piece seem now?

Somewhere in the middle of making my points against the use of pro wrestling-style promotion increasingly in mixed martial arts yesterday, I mentioned that Damon Martin’s work and all the work at MMA Weekly should be a part of your daily tour through the interwebs. Then I realized that maybe not everyone is as much of an MMA addict and computer nerd as me, and that spending hours on end reading countless sites for different takes on the same stories isn’t something that interests everyone.

Nonetheless, a whole bunch of you take the time to stop by this site on a daily basis and for that I am thankful. I am also going to fill you in on how your friendly neighborhood Spencer-man stays up-to-date on the news and views from the world of mixed martial arts. Buckle your seat belt because this is a chaotic and convoluted ride.

I have to tell you one thing right off the top: I think I have some OCD / ADD issues. Not only did I spend last night organizing the hundreds of MMA-related pictures I have on my computer into countless folders and sub-folders, but the bookmarked sites in my favorites file are all in alphabetical order, and not because I have a setting ticked where it does that kind of stuff for me. Additionally, I follow the Internet journey I’m about to take you on about seven times a day, more if I don’t have to work during the morning. It’s 9:20 here right now and I’ve already taken three trips down MMA Lane…

The E. Spencer Kyte Daily MMA Tour: Embark at Your Own Risk

First stop is my Gmail account (spencer.kyte@gmail.com – send questions, earn t-shirts!) to see what my friends, colleagues and potentially readers have sent me over the six-to-eight hours I’ve been away from my computer. My wife marvels at the fact that I can send important emails at 4:00 in the morning when it takes her 45 minutes to even begin to function in the morning, but I’m weird like that.

Facebook is next and I can’t stress to people just how important social media applications like Facebook and Twitter are in this business and the world in general. While I too hate the 400,000 Farmville updates and requests to join 47,000 groups / pages / causes that come every week, this is also a tremendous place to connect with industry people, fans and fighters, as well as get news updates that might alter your daily tour to a must-read article or news story.

In terms of MMA websites, my first destination is always – ALWAYS – Heavy.com and it has everything to do with the fact that I write there. Giggle all you want and call me whatever you need to, but I want to see if my pieces have been published so that I can help spread them around the MMA community if they have and read the outstanding work that my fellow Heavy staffers have offered up in the interim. Just so you know, we’re going to take over the MMA world within the next year. You heard that here first.

Next stop – Bloody Elbow. I’ve taking the team from B/E to task a time or two here on Keyboard Kimura, but for all the differences of opinions I have with their coverage and commentary at times, Kid Nate and Company are on top of things and aren’t afraid to take a stance and defend it to the hilt. They cover events big and small, tackle topics from every organization and deliver their thoughts without a sugary coating, and I appreciate that.

MMA Fighting follows on the tour stops, as Ariel Helwani, Ben Fowlkes, MDS and the rest of the talented collective are usually good for at least two solid stories a day. More recently, MMA Fighting has become a must-stop because of the outstanding video work of E. Casey Leydon and the “Backstage” series Helwani has been knocking out of the park for three installments to date.

Perhaps a lesser-known but equally awesome site comes next, as I venture over to Middle Easy. The site with the green t-shirts with a big red monster in the middle offers up humorous takes on some stories, serious thoughts on others and has fun with the day-to-day wonderfulness that is mixed martial arts. They earn bonus points for their Top 10 lists, their Sunday Morning Rumor Mill segment and the incredibly funny “This is what Google Thinks of Your Favorite Fighter” feature that ran yesterday.

Cage Potato comes next as Middle Easy usually puts me in the mood for some funny stuff and CP is one of the original humorous MMA sites in the business. Plus, they tend to link to a bunch of my stuff in their Link Dump pieces, so I want to return the love even if they don’t intentionally grab my stuff from Heavy.

The quality work of Damon Martin and the rest of the MMA Weekly staff makes an appearance here, as the need for funny has been satiated and serious news, features and information has returned.

From here on out it is a “what am I in the mood for today?” kind of journey.

If I want UFC-centric, more mainstream stuff, I’ll hit up Kevin Iole and company at Yahoo! MMA.

Both MMA Mania and Watch Kalib Run (a former home for me) offer similar approaches as Bloody Elbow (understandable since they’re all part of the Sports Blog Nation) with slightly different twists.

Since I get all my immediate news from Heavy, I only drop by MMA Junkie later in the tour. Sunday’s are different though., because The Sunday Junkie is a great series where you can get the pulse of the fans who are sending in their thoughts and comments, kind of like we’re trying to do here with the MMA Mailbag segment. See what I did there?

Both Sports Illustrated and ESPN come in somewhere closer to the end of my journey, but not because I don’t like their material or think others are better. I check them last because on massive sports sites like those, there are bound to be six or eight stories that capture my interest and send me on a twenty minute tangent into basketball, hockey, photo galleries and a check of my ESPN Fantasy Football team. I told you I had some ADD issues…

From there, I usually roll threw my email and Facebook again, check in at the administrative page of Keyboard Kimura to see how many people have read the day’s piece or left comments (leave more comments people!) and start back through the cycle.

Toss in a couple of walks for my dog, whatever interviews I have to knock out for the day (Mark Hominick, Mike Thomas Brown, Matt Mitrione and Ed Ratcliff are on the schedule today) and doing my part around the house and you have the makings of a pretty nice Sunday. Going to try and squee
ze in a little Bed, Bath & Beyond but I’m not sure if we’re going to have time.

Happy Sunday everybody!

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Don’t forget to send your thoughts, comments and questions in for the MMA Mailbag, every second Thursday at Keyboard Kimura.

We’ll answer all your TCQs and the best of the bunch earns a free t-shirt courtesy of ZUMA Martial Arts, home of unbeaten Strikeforce Women’s Welterweight champion Sarah Kaufman.

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